I don't know if you guys have seen this or not yet. The video of them playing is so cute!
"An African lion and an Italian mastiff have paired up at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. The extraordinary duo can now be seen at the Animal Care Center daily.
Monday, the pair spent the morning pouncing on each other and playing with toys. The lion and dog are slowly being introduced to one another over the past month to give the lion cub a companion
Born through caesarean section on November 11, the male lion cub, named Koza, which means "bright" in Swahili, needed to be hand raised. Because a lion is a social animal, keepers were concerned that the cub had no playmate. To solve this problem, nursery keepers introduced Cairo, a puppy born to a dog rescued during Hurricane Katrina.
When the duo was first introduced, the lion cub stayed close to his keepers but he has become increasingly braver. As the pair’s bond becomes stronger they will spend more time together and will eventually move to Lion Camp: The Sylvia G. Straton Lion Savanna where they will have a field to play on.
Koza and Cairo will remain together until the lion is large enough to be introduced into a lion pride."
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/videos/index.html First video in the right hand column
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/kids/animal_lion-puppy.html